Mat-Su staff back two cabins 50 feet from Rainbow Lake, inside the 75-foot setback

Mat-Su Borough planning staff are recommending a variance that would let Punt Brothers Construction build two cabins about 50 feet from Rainbow Lake in Meadow Lakes, inside the borough's 75-foot shoreline setback, according to the Planning Commission packet.

The cabins would replace a 1972 mobile home that sits the same distance from the water and is allowed to stay because it predates the rule. The Planning Commission is scheduled to introduce the request Nov. 16 and hold a public hearing Dec. 7.

Staff found that the 0.65-acre lot, on a peninsula with the lake on two sides, does have a small building spot that meets the setback. But building there would take substantial site work and could get in the way of a septic system, the staff report says. State rules keep septic systems 100 feet from the water, which leaves little room for one on the lot, and the land drops about 30 feet toward the shore on each side.

The staff summary says the mobile home would be replaced with "two residential structures of similar square footage." The report's findings put the mobile home at 830 square feet and the two cabins at about 2,016 square feet combined, more than twice as large. Staff said that's in line with comparable buildings on the peninsula, which average about 2,034 square feet.

The borough mailed 71 notices and had one reply by the time staff wrote the report, from next-door neighbor David Auld. "I don't have a problem with this but if approved it should set a precedent for all other land owners to be allowed to build within 50 of the lake also," he wrote.

The commission's Nov. 16 agenda also includes variance requests for a garage about 50 feet from Rainbow Lake, on another lot, and an arctic entry about 67 feet from Stepan Lake.

In May, staff recommended denying a variance for a house as close as 32 feet to Middle Caswell Lake, saying the owners had a spot that met the rule and passed it up for "reasons of preference rather than necessity." The commission approved the variance.

The 75-foot rule dates to 1973. It was cut to 45 feet in 1986, and voters restored it in 1987, according to a borough memo that estimates about 763 buildings have gone up closer than 75 feet to lakes since then. A borough advisory board's draft recommendations called for ending variances within 45 feet of the water, but the Assembly rejected the board's proposed overhaul in September 2025.